Eia's Story
by UltaFlame
Summary: Tells the adventure of Four Adepts on their own quest similar to that of Isaac and Felix's group. Characters are all original. Based off the idea that lighting the lighthouses and sealing alchemy goes in a neverending cycle.
1. Prologue

I apologize for the shortness of this prologue, and I realize it might be terrible, but I really for the life of me could not come up with anything to make it any longer. three hundred and sixty two words. Really short. Even I don't like that. Enjoy, however. This came about mostly because of my immense need for a female venus adept. Plus, I had little clue how to create an original story inside the world of Weyard that didn't involve the lighthouses. And besides. Cycles are fun, right?

Even with my hair in my face, I knew. This adventure had been done before. I didn't tell my fellow adventurer's, but it had been done. Although, maybe the Wise One hadn't existed then, so perhaps it was easier. Maybe it would be impossible without the seemingly all-knowing mass of rock. I never told my companions the reason I was being chased. They'd never asked, but after all this time, and on our way to Jupiter, the last lighthouse we'd visit… I felt they had a right to know. But I was scared of what they'd say.

I was a Jupiter Adept, name was Breil, however I had no great wish to see the lighthouse of my own element. I marched right with the other three Adepts of our group, but I was quiet. Eia, our leader, stared back at me, silently wondering, like usual. I'd faced that stare the entire trip, and I'd still not come to grips with how to explain myself to her. Her, especially. With just one quiet look, she'd quelled our companions' wonderings when they stumbled upon me.

I could see it on their faces, nearly feel it calling out to my Jupiter-given mind-reading abilities. That day was long ago. It's not my story to tell, but I wish I could. Our journey till now is Eia's story… but I must go my own through Jupiter. I know what awaits me at the top. I've seen it. Jupiter is the wind. The wind carries the thin fabric of reality along the sky of truth, giving creation time. With Jupiter, comes foresight. If I don't go alone, I'd never forgive myself for what would happen.

And that, is why I did what I did then. Perhaps Eia's story will come to you, but I can no longer bear to leave mine behind. What happened next is lost to history… but know the following, and know it well. Jupiter was lit. The Golden Sun formed over Mount Aleph. The Wise One watched, not interfering directly in mortal affairs, yet still deciding the fate of the world. Over… and over. And thus, my story closes. Tragically short as it was.


	2. Chapter: 1

Originally, Eia was going to be eighteen already at the start of chapter 1, and she was going to be living alone in a large plains. On the map, it would be somewhere around where Lunpa is, but Lunpa doesn't exist, because this is a different place in time on Weyard. The caravan Eia is with is somewhere around Vault, which is just a road at the time. I began chapter 1 several years before the beginning of Eia's journey.

Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun, though, since this is posted HERE, on a site decidated to FANFICS, I don't know why you would I assume I might.

Oh skies, I just realized something. Eia's silent, but I have her moaning about bugs and annoyances AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST CHAPTER. wow. How could I have missed that? fixed it now, but Wow. I can't believe I did that.

Chapter 1

I woke up because a caterpillar crawled its way onto my face. Sitting up caused it to fall, and I silently cursed the thing as it left a weird feeling on my cheek. I noticed it was sunny. I inspected my surroundings, and my thoughts wandered. _So I fell asleep in a field of grass today. What was that caterpillar doing, anyway? Where is it? Is it still near? Why would it be? Is that a coin on the ground?_ It was. I picked up the coin, feeling lucky. I wondered where the rest of the people were.

_They wouldn't have left me… would they? They usually make plenty of profit off me, so they wait for me…_ I couldn't stand not sleeping surrounded by ground, trees, or dirt, so I wandered off on my own every night. I could handle myself fine in a fight; that's precisely why they made a profit. I looked around, and tried to remember from which path I'd come the night before.

"Eia," came the sound of a voice. I sat up, not yet fully awake. "Eia, you over there?" That was my name they were calling. They hadn't left me. That was good. I made a sound that meant something more along the lines of me wanting more sleep, yet it served the purpose of making them aware of my existence. "C'mon! The caravan is leaving!" I nodded; I doubted the performer could see me, but I was still mostly asleep.

More awake than I was moments before, I saw a hand extended in front of my face. Without looking to see whose hand it was, I reach out and felt a strong arm pull me up. "Eia, hurry up, or next time we will leave ya behind." I nodded; they seemed to accept that I never spoke a word. My wrist still firmly in the man's grasp I was pulled through a small group of trees, and through more grass until we reached the caravan. "There's yer place, get in so we can move out."

Silently nodding, I climbed into my small hole, and felt the wheels of the vehicle begin moving, pulled by the powerful horses they owned. I searched around, and found my small chest. My blade was in its sheath, next to the chest, too big to fit in. I opened my chest, and dropped my coin in. I then had five coins, all worn and tired of use, as well as my few other possessions. I pulled out a change of clothes, and made sure they'd closed the door, then I'd shut the blinds on the windows, and got undressed.

Moving swiftly (they never noticed I only closed the windows when I was changing), I put on my second pair of clothing, and set my first out for the cleaning people. I opened the windows, attached the sheath and blade to my belt, and looked at the mirror. My hair, caught somewhere between dark brown and ordinary brown in color, was all messy, knotted, and grass seemed to have nested itself in it. I grabbed a hairbrush that I was given, and did my best to unknot my hair, and get the grass out.

I was still occupied with getting my hair suitable for today's goings on, when the back of the place opened up. I had noticed we'd stopped, and was beginning to wonder when someone would be bothering me. The person mumbled something about hair, and rushed off. I put the hairbrush down, and checked the outfit. Whenever the color began to fade they always wanted me to get a new one tailored, but I still kept my first one, kept folded in my chest. It featured a lot of browns, some dark greens, and made my brown-stone eyes stand out. The colors always remained the same, yet the tailors enjoyed changing the designs, so each was still unique.

I looked down as I pulled over the one chair I was given, and sat down in it. I hadn't put my boots on. I was just finishing with that chore when the hair lady came in the back. "By the cursed stones," she was saying, "I swear, Eia. Every time you go out to sleep, you come back looking like this. It's unbecoming of a lady." Through the mirror, she saw my expression, saw that I wasn't listening. She slapped a palm onto my ear, and I made a sound not unlike a mewling kitten. "You listen to me, Eia. If you're going to run off and doze in some forgotten field or in a tree or something, at least keep your hair out of it!"

She had already begun forcibly pulling a brush through my hair, somehow undoing the knots and ridding my hair of the grass I could not myself. She chattered on, but I never listened to a word. My mind was elsewhere. _Unbecoming of a lady? When did it become decided that I was a lady? I'm just the swordsgirl who gets you some coin_. My thoughts rarely stayed on one subject, but the mention of the word 'lady' frightened me a little. I had thought they only wanted me for coin, but perhaps they were having issues anyway? If they were… my last hair lady had told me that she was getting married, but she was much older than myself.

When she spoke of him she had seemed quietly happy enough, but she was always able to make me do what she wanted, without resorting to the usual attempts like shouting or yelling. I always heard the caravan leader asking her how she did it, and when I stumbled upon his writing, it was full of silent worry over the lady's eventual leave. I had been punished sorely for that one, but the book was right outside where I was placed. "There. That should do it, and if Tamm ain't satisfied, let him rot for all I care." As the lady walked out, she mumbled to herself, "dang child's hair is harder to tend than it is to find a rat in the palace of Mellay!" I knew she hadn't meant it for my ears.

Time passed, I just sat there. "Hey. What do you think is in this one?" I heard a voice outside, and the sounds of two pairs of feet shuffling about. There had been a ruckus outside a while ago… but I hadn't been called, and last time I went outside when I wasn't called I was punished severely. "Think there's anythin' valuable, like the others?" I had heard a lot of shouting, but there was always a lot of shouting during the day. People cheering on performers, people booing a poor act.

"I dunno. Open it, let's see. Maybe we'll find a nice broad like that Bill fella." I heard a chuckle, followed by a low response I couldn't hear. I didn't recognize the voices. New people often came to see me when they were recruited by the caravan for one reason or another. I wondered how my dad was doing. I never saw him, but they often told me he was doing fine. I'd forgotten to ask someone the day before.

"If there is, she's mine," I heard the first voice say, before the door busted open. First thing I noticed was the fires, and general disarray. Then I noticed two very unclean men. They smelled terrible. They were dirty, but the dirt caked under their fingernails was not from a forest, and had the look of something disgusting I didn't want to touch. They climbed inside, and one noticed me immediately. "Hey, there's a girl. Couldn't be more than twelve." He approached me.

I could feel my eyelids going wide, and I stood. I didn't want this man near me, even if he was new to the caravan. He came closer. He had a knife in one hand. It was long, sharp. His hand touched me. His hand explored my face, and my hands wouldn't move. The other man came close. "Hey, she's not too feisty, uh?" The first man shook his head. I let out a small-sounding sound of distress, and tried to back away, but I met wall. He smelled terrible. He smelled like a wound, badly infected. He touched me. An infected wound touched me.

"Get over here girl, I want you to do something for me." I shook my head fast. "C'mon. It won't hurt. I just want you to tell me your name. Please?" He sounded mocking. I saw the hair lady start running by, and I reached my hand out, letting out a loud squeak. The lady ran right by, and some men followed her. The man in front of me grabbed my wrist. "Listen to me, tell me your name, girl!" I didn't like this man. This was not a good man. I looked around, frantic.

The second man was looking me over. Eyeing me like a prize people won at one of those games. "Hey, Fen, she's got a sword. Think she knows how to use it?" The sword! My blade! I stopped trembling, not realizing I had been, and calmed down. I could handle these two if I had my blade. The man holding my wrist turned to look at the other man. I noticed his features. He had cold, deep blue eyes. Very cold. Like a frozen ocean. His hair was pitch-black, like the shadows at night.

"I don't think so. She's too young."I pulled my wrist from his grasp. "Hey," he shouted, "you do as _I_ say from now on, got it, girl?"Nothing happened for a few seconds. I screamed at the top of my lungs, and the back of my mouth began to feel scratchy and in pain, and I coughed once. The man was shoving his knife in my face. "See this?! See it?!" his voice was very loud. I made no movement, I said nothing. "If you _ever_ do that again, I'll cut your face up with this, you hear me?" I said nothing. He raised his voice even louder, "you hear me, girl?!"

Suddenly a large rock slammed into the man's head, and he fell forward onto my chest. "Eia, you all right?" one of the performers, a big, muscular man, was saying. I nodded my head, but I kicked the man off me, and curled into a ball against the wall. "They do anything to you? You sure you ok?" I shook my head, nodded. "Come on, Eia, let's go. The caravan is destroyed, I'm afraid." He sounded worried, and I was scared, so I went with him.

He'd jumped out, and was about to help me get down, when I ran over to my chest. My outfit had some pockets, hidden. This was one done when the tailors were sick with something, and a local tailor had to do the job. He'd put pockets in them, but never told anyone. I wasn't allowed to have pockets. I stuffed my coins in them, and a few other of my belongings, including some herbs I'd found at night sometimes. When I looked back outside, the man was gone. I jumped down, and instantly lost my footing.

Standing, I looked at what I'd fallen on. I ran. As fast as my powerful legs could run, I ran. I heard some voices behind me, but I kept running, and I never heard anyone follow me. My hair flew all over the place, but it seemed to enjoy getting in my face and blocking my vision. I kept running anyway. I heard an explosion. I stopped. The sun was rising, right in front of me, and I was surrounded by trees, but in front of me was a large field of grass I didn't recognize. I didn't remember where I'd gone.

_They won't be able to find me._ I thought, thinking only about the people of the caravan. _I'm lost. They won't be able to find me. I brought my sword with me. So… tired…_


	3. Chapter: 2

Chapter 2 is noticeably shorter than chapter 1. That being said, it also seems that More in general happens here. Weird. Anyway, I had fun writing the boy and his dad.

Whisk is an Original Djinn, and he'll be a solid character who actively communicates with Eia. Whisk is, in fact, a Jupiter Djinn, and I'll find some way to include a description of him in the next chapter(because even the Djinn have to be described) I think I'll have chapter 3 also feature Young Eia, and then (not quite fully)Grown Eia will be in chap 4 and on. I do not plan, as yet, to have the boy and his father(however fun they are to write) as main characters, and as such, they are nameless. They are Zero!

I don't own Golden Sun, but as this is posted HERE, a site dedicated to FANFICS, I don't see why you could EVER assume I might THINK I might. Carry on with the 'show.'

Chapter 2

"Pa, I found a girl." A young boy with dirt in his sand colored hair said. He had poked his head into the door to his father's workshop. His father made blades, and other assorted weapons. His father put down his tools, and muttered something about the dumb luck of walking in right after he was done. Silently, the dark-haired man cleaned his work place, walked over to his son by the door, walked outside, and then turned to face the boy.

"You found a what?" Was exactly the words he said, casual and slow as he ever spoke.

"I found a girl, pa." the boy responded, repeating his words from before.

"You found a girl. Where?" They'd begun walking, the father letting the boy lead, although the child didn't notice.

"Over on the hill. She wasn't talkin' none. I thought she might be dead, way she was just layin on her face there. Turns out she was jus' sleepin'." The boy stopped, pointed with one hand, and said, "that's where she was, pa. I din' touch her none, but the girl ran off almos' soon as she notice me, she did." The boy had nodded at certain points of his small speech, as if out of habit.

"Now why did you think to tell me you saw this girl? I don' see much reason to, 'f she ran off," was the slow-spoken response the well-built man came up with.

"Well I was thinkin' I wanted to keep her, ya thought you could fin' 'er." At the child's clearly serious remark the father burst into raucous laughter, and put a hand in the boy's hair, and sat down to his eye level.

"Son. When you find a woman, you don' never keep her. She keeps you, sure as I ever understood it," the man spoke with the intent to depart some sort of wisdom on the child. He could tell easily, though, that his words had gone in one ear and out the next, never once processed by the young kid's mind.

"But pa! She can' be much ol'er 'an me! Ya have ta fin' her! Ya have to!" The man wasn't quite sure how to get anything through to the boy, so he resolved to finding this girl. He thought, anyway, that a girl as young as his son said shouldn't be sleeping out in the middle of nowhere that this was. Where were her parents, he wondered.

"Alrigh' son. Let's go find her. Which way she run off," he asked the child.

"That way, pa!" The boy was already far off in the grass by the time the father had stood. With a sigh, the man hustled and called out to his son.

"Hey! Wait up, this ol' body don' get me much where's lately." And thus began their search for a young girl who most likely never wanted to be found.

It had been days, and they hadn't given up their search for the girl. Well, the boy hadn't given up the search. He still coaxed his father out, but he didn't think they'd find her. He thought the girl had parents, and figured she'd stumbled upon them and gone home. Wherever home was to them. Anyway, it wasn't his business, and he didn't want it to be his business. He was content with raising his son, and forging weapons which would never be used.

Meanwhile…

I had run from that small boy. I woke up, and all I remembered was running, and I began running again. I'd found a tree, and I just sat in it, high up. Really high up. The boy and a man were looking for something down below. After a while I realized they were looking for me. I stayed in the tree. Nobody saw me in the tree. Nobody could find me in the tree. The tree was safety.

_The tree is not an apple tree._ The thought came to me after I'd been hiding in the tree for days. I was just… hiding. I was used to staying in one place for long periods of time. _Why is the tree not an apple tree?_ I slowly began to climb out of the tree, when my arms and legs suddenly became very weak, and I fell to the branch below. I shrieked. It was a strong branch that supported my weight. It didn't crack.

"Well hello there," the strangest little creature said to me. "The name is Whisk. I'm a Djinn, and though you've never used it yet, you have the makings of a Venus Adept in you, I'd say!" I stared at the thing. "Not very talkative are you? Hmm…" I felt an awkward… something. It continued talking, "you don't know a thing about me, do you? Or yourself for that matter. Your mind is very active, isn't it?" I nodded, considering only its first question, but it seemed overall satisfied.

"Hmm… I'll come along with you. You may need me, when the time comes. Besides, someone's going to have to speak for you, won't they?" I just stared. I felt that something again, and then the thing vanished. I don't know what it did, but I saw tiny spheres of light go into me, and then I heard it's voice in my mind, _"come on, Eia, let's go!"_ I didn't move, then I heard it babbling some nonsense as if under its breath. _"Oh dear. Eia, you haven't eaten in days."_ It then reappeared, transparently, in front of me. I suddenly felt ground beneath me, and noticed I was on my feet.

"Hey pa! Tha's 'er!" I heard the boy's voice. I stared at the sky, and my mind wondered, _what is going on?_

"_It'll all make sense in a few years, Eia, when you begin to use Psynergy,"_ came Whisks's unbidden voice.

"She's out 'f it. Best ta take her inside." The man walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder. I stared up at him. His hair was black. His eyes were closed. His eyes were cold. Deep blue, and cold. Like a frozen ocean, hidden from a bird by the storm clouds above. My hand instinctively went to my blade at my side, but he grabbed my wrist. His eyes were open now, but I wasn't looking. I didn't want to see the coldness. "Woah, there, girl." Girl.

I screamed. As loud as I could scream, I screamed until I couldn't scream anymore. Then I ran. I tripped on something, and ran even harder. Keep running, keep running. Voices behind me. _Just keep running!_ I was screaming in my mind, the sound of my own thoughts beating against my skull. _"If you ever do that again, I'll cut your face up with this, you hear me?"_

Slowly, vaguely, I came back to my senses. I'd collapsed on the ground, and I didn't know when. Whisk was in front of me. "You ok, Eia? That was some pretty hefty stuff going through you. That man didn't mean it. He didn't know. Eia? Eia, you alright? Eia?" That sunset… was a very dark red.

At other places.

"Pa. What just happened?" The boy had just finally took his hands away from his ears. The girl they had been looking for, they'd found her. The boy's father had gone to her, then she started screaming. That scream had been loud, and lasted a long time, the child just couldn't take it, and had nearly doubled over in the pain his ears felt.

"I.. don' think I have ta right min' ta say, son. I think… I think we should jus'… forget 'bou' 'er." The man was confused as to what had happened with the girl. He was usually good with children. Though, that girl had seemed around the age of eleven, maybe twelve. Perhaps being good which children didn't include young girls of that age? Anyway, it wasn't of much import to him, now. Perhaps his kid could find a better way to waste his days until he left. The man's other children had left already.

"Ya sure, pa? I think if we appoach her a li'l diffintly, it'll go be'er." He sighed. His child wouldn't be easily dissuaded, this time. Why did the boy have to hold such a fascination with the obviously disturbed girl?


	4. Chapter: 3

Well I decided to put this chapter In between young and grown Eia.

I can't believe it but my sibling is trying to convince me to put JENNA into this story. I mean, I like Jenna, but this is set somewhere VERY FAR AWAY IN THE TIMELINE from Jenna. My sibling's like 'SHE FREEZES HERSELF' or 'TIME MACHINE.' . 'THIS WORLD IS A PRISON AND THEY TAKE HER OUT OCCASSIONALLY' …what? In case anyone feels like supporting my sibling's cause: JENNA WILL NEVER BE FEATURED IN THIS STORY.

Chapter 3

Years had passed, and that boy had never stopped bothering me. I'd woken up one day to find the earth bent itself to my will. It was actually a startling awakening. A nut had fallen on my head, and the earth was quivering as if during an earthquake. Panicked, I sought Whisk. His comforting voice told me that was Psynergy. Whisk was a Djinni. He'd told me that the first time I saw him, when I was hiding in that tree.

I still thought him the most curious creature I'd ever seen. He looked sleek, and there were two sapphire-spheres on either side of his head. I assumed those were eyes, but one could hardly be sure. A line seemed to go around and past the spheres, separating the top half of his head from his lower. He seemed to have no mouth whatsoever, and off his head seemed a single 'wing' that extended straight back. Small, long ears attached themselves on the lower half of his head. He had no arms, but his legs seemed like pointed, light-purple cones. His main body was a dark purple, and elsewhere he varied in lighter shades of the same color.

An interesting creature. He said three different 'elements' of Djinn existed elsewhere, and that he was only one of his kind, the Jupiter species. Whisk said each Djinn was able to grant a different power to its Adept. He had an odd ability to just know what was going on in my mind. A Psynergy, he'd called it. Mind Read. Seemed handy. When I could hear his voice in my mind, I had a slight ability to use the winds to my whim. The other use for the Djinn, Whisk said.

"Hey, Ei." The boy was eleven, now. I was fifteen. His father had died a year back. Caught a fever, we didn't know how to treat him. The man himself hadn't known how to treat a fever. So he died. The boy, whose name I still didn't know, had continued to hang around me from that point on. He was amused that I didn't talk. He spoke to Whisk, though. He had seemed confused when he first met the creature, but he was accustomed to the Djinni by this point. "Wha''re you doin'?" I pointed towards a tree.

I was going to use the Tree as a center point for my Psynergy , using it's many roots to search for a rock I could use to sharpen my sword. It had grown dull from my practice over the years. "Hey," Whisk was speaking, "know of any villages around here? You two can't live off the land forever. And you'll need to find more materials soon, if you want to continue practicing forging." The boy had taken an interest in his late father's former profession. He made weapons and armor, made with the knowledge that they'd probably never see use. They were of startlingly good quality, but none of them resembled my own weapon. I had no clue how to use any other weapon, but I was skillful with it, considering my age.

That was how I'd managed to get those caravaners some coin. I was played off as the youngest sword-master ever born, and I had the skill to fool most people. Occasionally some would doubt my skill, and then I would face them in a sword match. Sometimes, a man was hired to doubt, and then lose humiliatingly. I won as often as I lost. When I was living with the boy, I practiced more to maintain my ability, rather than to further it.

In all my life, I don't remember speaking one word. Of everyone, my mother had the hardest time accepting my status as a mute. Especially since she knew it was by choice, rather than some weird affliction. I felt Whisk's presence in my head._"Eia, eventually, you will have to leave this place, you know."_ I nodded, but I didn't wish to deal with people. They often had trouble accepting a silent person.

I heard Whisk's sigh inside my head, and I'd found a suitable rock. I began moving the earth with Psynergy, to reach the rock. When I had it, I quietly began to sharpen the edge on my sword. I'd completely forgotten the boy's presence, but Whisk hadn't. The boy was talking, now, "well, I 'eard 'bou' a vill'ge s'mwher nearby, bu' I don' thin' i''ll have much. 'S small, 'par'ntly." I'd long since given up understanding him perfectly.

Whisk, on the other side of things, understood him perfectly. "Well, it might be small, but it's a village. We'll go there soon, if you think you can find your way." Around that time Whisk had begun to feel rushed, as if he had to do something fast. I could tell, after having known him for years. Whisk was a calm, unrushed wind, gently caressing a weary traveler's burdened body before he drifts to sleep. At that time he seemed like a calm breeze forced by the gales of a powerful storm to join in tormenting that weary traveler with forceful winds that threatened to throw him about.

I'd noticed, but had decided Whisk would sort it out somehow. Whisk was resourceful, and knew the world better than myself. I'd guessed inwardly once that he could talk to the wind like as if it were as breathing a being as myself. He'd responded that Weyard itself might be considered as such, with that logic. Silently and to myself, I wondered what logic he had been speaking about. He hadn't said anything.

That afternoon, as I was still sharpening my sword's blade, Whisk showed up in front of me. He had a habit of doing that. "He's going, now. He's all packed up. Go see him off; he'll be glad to see you one last time before departing." I nodded, stood. Sheathed the weapon I had had since I was ten. Followed Whisk. I waved.

"La'er, Ei. Be back whe' I get wha' we need!" And he left. I returned to sitting under a tree, continuing to sharpen my blade.

To see inside the mind of the Jupiter Djinn.

I was confused, and had been since the moment I had seen the girl, and initially read her mind. Why had the Wise One released me early, to meet her? Surely, she was an Adept, and they weren't common at that point in Weyard's history. She wasn't special, beyond that. She didn't talk, an oddity, a curiosity. Nothing more.

The Wise One was planning something. I knew it. Eia was involved, somehow. Was he gathering adventurers, again? It had been hundreds of years since I had been locked up, along with the lighthouses, and it is the Wise One's will, at that moment, which had allowed me time on Weyard, instead of being sealed inside the statues at Sol Sanctum.

Prox. It was always Prox. The Wise One had sent me to these plains immediately. Prox was planning something, again. I just knew it. Could it be time for the Lighthouses to shine their light, once more? After so long? Would the Djinn be free of their imprisonment?

Without my knowing, a tear had come to my eye. I noticed Eia staring at me. She'd noticed. She was confused. I shook my head, and said that I just felt excited. Her thoughts coalesced into something about rushing and winds, and a weary traveler. _"I'm fine, Eia. No rush… just excitement. We might soon not have to just sit around."_ She had a puzzled look on her face. She didn't hide her expressions, knowing that was her main way of communication.

That didn't mean she didn't guard herself, however. Her thoughts often went along a far different track than her face showed. Shrugging, Eia had went back to her efforts renewing the edge of that weapon of hers. I was still trying to figure out how she'd come across that thing. She hid that memory behind a solid block. It was knowledge for her, and for her alone, I decided.

I had instantly understood why the Wise One had sent a Jupiter Djinni, instead of a Venus Djinni, despite Eia being an Adept of the other Alchemic disposition. As a mute, a Djinni of Jupiter stood the best chance for equivalent conversation with the girl. But, with the Wise One, it can grow difficult to assume things. He could not directly interfere in human actions, and so, the Djinn were his eyes and ears. Seperately, we were also his watchers, even imprisoned in our statues. Constantly, we watched the being's actions, and would interfere immediately if he broke the codes he was assigned.

Or she, not even the Djinn knew the Wise One's gender. If it had one. We were created after the Wise One, and we don't know how it had come into existence. Wait… why would he be… I searched through my link with Alchemy, to the other Jupiter Djinn. _Why,_ I asked them, _is the Wise One coming this way?_

_He's not got anything on his mind, Whisk. Yeah, he just plans to see his little Venus Adept up close. _

_But he isn't planning on revealing himself to her yet. He made sure to tell us. Well, if you can trust the Wise One to be honest with us. Hey! You know he's not allowed to lie to the Djinn. Just saying, it's not like he hasn't spun the truth around before._

_I worry about that child's future. Aww, no need to worry, Whisk'll take care of her. But after the Release, and the Stars' taking from the Sanctum. What then? Well, Whisk'll still be with her. We chose Whisk for a reason, remember? Hey, no need to get involved._

Thoughts all tended to have the same sound, when coming from the Jupiter Djinn. It can be hard to tell one Djinni's thoughts apart from the other. But I was calm. He wasn't planning on interfering… not yet, anyway. It would only be so long until he saw fit to reveal himself to Eia. I was nervous, and edgy, as Eia thought. The Wise One might startle her if he showed himself now.

_Is that so, Whisk? Then I guess I don't have her guardian's permission to reveal myself tonight. Not that I was planning on it. _I could see him close his eye as he chuckled. It was a habit of his. _She seems to be doing fine. Keep an eye on her, Whisk._

I sighed. Eia looked at me. _"Nothing, Eia, nothing. I'm just tired. It's gotten late, I think it's about time you turned in."_ The girl looked up at the sky. Eia had a habit of getting locked in whatever she was doing. She nodded to herself, and walked off to some random place in the plains. I just let myself rest in the only way Djinn can. I closed my eyes, and became one with the wind for a short while, keeping a resting watch over the grass.


	5. Chapter: 4

Hey, two chapters in one day. …I need to learn to not be so bored with myself all the time. Some pumped up music was playing, and the first scene started coming to me. Fear the fighting! If anyone has a better 'Proxian' name for Reiest, please suggest it. I thought on it all day, and it eludes me.

Chapter 4

It was a massive battle, each side fighting valiantly for their own beliefs, but we would be victorious. I knew it. The strategist's plan was infallible. My troops behind me shouted their cheerings. Not a one of them doubted our victory. Rising up beneath me, the ground launched me through the skies. I twisted, unsheathing my sword. I'd still had it.

The battle was being fought over Mercury, but that was unimportant to me. I landed in a group of surprised enemies. With grace, I parried seven sword-strikes, and sliced the side of one man's face off, moving with grace and separating several people from their armor before the ground moved from beneath me again. I went down, they went up. They came down, and I was gone. Elsewhere on the battlefield.

Another of our Adepts I saw standing, still, amongst unmoving foes. I picked off a few nameless people in front of me, watching as they collapsed, water flowing out of their eyes and mouths, and a few peoples' ears. We couldn't afford to lose this battle.

It dragged on. I stood facing a skilled Adept on the enemies' side. We went at each other as often with our blades as with Psynergy. I flowed my blade from a stab at his face, to a slash at his arm, and finally an attempt at his sword-hand itself. As swiftly as my own arm, he deflected my attempts, then came back with a forceful push of a string of blows.

I blocked them, slid his weapon past my own, rose the earth up in a crumbling fist, and knocked him to his knees. I rushed over to his fallen form, began to pierce through his armor and –

Yawning, I pushed off Whisk's nudging presence in my mind. I was having a dream, one I was enjoying, though recollection was swiftly fading from my mind. "Mornin' Eia," Whisk whispered in my ear. I sat up, looking around. I recognized the tree I'd hidden in when I'd first found the Jupiter Djinni six years prior. "Yeah. It's been a while since then, hasn't it?" After telling us he had grown bored of living with a mute and some strange thing, the boy had gone off for a life of adventure. Whisk had told me the day following that he'd find a pleasant girl and settle down.

I hadn't doubted my Djinni's insight to the future. Jupiter bestowed marvelous, strange powers upon its people. Such as the ability to read minds, and some small level of future sight. Whisk had demonstrated it to me once by predicting that I'd trip on a rock, down to the very last minute detail surrounding the event, three days prior to its occurrence. I hadn't doubted Jupiter's abilities, but a point was driven home anyway. He'd said "told ya," when it happened.

"We need supplies again, Eia. Time to head to Vale. It's been over two months since your last visit." I nodded, not wanting to leave my home, as I saw it, however much it was just a field of grass. I grabbed my few possessions (I still had those five coins) and walked off, beginning the trek to the town. They were Adepts there, I could sense it in them, and they sensed it in me. Whisk didn't suggest I try to make a home there, and I preferred sleeping with grass in between my fingers.

It approached late night, and the ground before me was barely visible. I set about making a small fire to ward off any animals which might try to attack me, and got some rest. Whisk would watch out for me, and wake me if there was any danger.

I awoke with a start as the sun began to peak above the mountaintops surrounding the valley Vale nestled itself in. The villages there had told me the marvelously huge mountain behind them was Mount Aleph, a mountain of legend across the world. I heard the crunch of boots, and felt the silent moving of people suited to lodging a knife into you before you even realized there was anything behind you. I knew I'd been noticed. I'd only camped a small place from the road, and there weren't any trees nearby.

I then realized the reason I'd awoken was because one of them began to lift me over his shoulders. I resisted, kicking him off me, looked around. There were dozens of people on the move. A quick guess told me they numbered somewhere around thirty people. _"Thirty-two, to be exact. All Adepts, and trained warriors beside. Go with them. You don't have much choice. It's regrettable, but you'll have to put up with them for now."_ I nodded, and realized the people around me looked weird.

For one, their skin was toned a gray, and a few had scales adorning parts of their arms, like natural armor. Pointy ears, a trait I didn't think possible in humans. And, oddly enough, they all had that same odd color to their eyes. A deep red, reminding me of the furnaces I'd seen once when I'd been taken to a bakery in some village. One tried to grab me again, but I shoved him away, and stumbled backwards.

I fell to the floor, another person on top of me. "Hey! Who is this girl?" It was a female's voice. Her armor looked slightly different from the others'. "She some new captive or something?" The battle-suited Adept stood, not bothering to offer me a hand.

"Just a girl. Found her camping along the road, figured it'd be dangerous to leave her there. Feisty, though, kept pushing us off. Tough one." I stood, hid behind the person I'd fallen… under.

"Well she seems to have lost a little spunk now. Just follow me. I'll bring you with me when we enter Vale. Me, and the two leading this expedition. They'll know what to do." I nodded, not understanding what was going on, a little frightened, and confused beyond reason.

And so I found myself following a mini-army of gray-skinned Adepts who could all roast me alive if given the chance. I just followed the footsteps of the girl in front of me. I was surprised to find myself being slapped across the face. I stumbled backwards, then realized there had been a seat offered for me. I hadn't sat in a chair since… that night. I'd dozed. Usually Whisk explains things for me. Where was Whisk?

"Are you going to listen now?" A tall, bulky, heavily armored man with a spear asked me. I nodded. "Mind talking, so we can actually communicate with you? You know, human interaction." First impression: impatient, nervous, rushed, but generally… impatient.

I shook my head, and sat at the chair. "Do you know where we are?" This came from a woman, a different one from the girl I'd been following. Unknowingly, I sought that girl out, and found her dressed in more casual, though very outlandish attire. When had she changed? "Do you know where we are?!" The raise in voice-level shocked me, and I faced the woman, whose hair was a bright pink, and long, a little past her shoulders. I nodded. "Good. You're a Venus Adept." I nodded again.

The woman smiled. It surprised me. From my experiences at that point with the strange people, I'd almost thought them incapable of being pleased. "I'm disappointed though." And her expression soured, from a smile to a frown. "The people of Vale aren't listening to me. We'll just have to go inside Sol Sanctum and retrieve the Elemental Stars without their blessing. Though, I suppose it'll put an immediately sour tone to our relations. You're coming with us." I nodded. I'd begun to adjust. It'd be sort of like being with the caravan again, I'd reasoned.

I felt Whisk's presence inside my mind. I jumped as I realized he'd been inside my mind the whole time, and thus, had been rendered incapable of explaining me to them. I shrugged my shoulders, and sat down again.

The girl I followed asked, "what? What just happened? Um, what?" The woman was just amused, and the bulky man shook his head, and went down the stairs. There were stairs?

"I'll be heading out for one last try with the Mayor of this fool village. Keep our guest company, little Renti." And with that the woman exited the room, leaving me with the girl. Suddenly, I realized she was about my age, and looked none too pleased to be babysitting the mute.

Whisk chose that moment to materialize in front of my face. The girl, shocked, stared blankly for a few moments. "What is that thing, " she asked after a while.

Whisk said nothing for couple of seconds. Then, "I am Whisk. I'm… Eia's… friend."

A smile crept onto the girl's mouth, "so her name's Eia?"

I nodded. "Look like you haven't cleaned in months. I understand this Inn has a bath. Come on, I doubt mama wanted me to stay here and not get you washed up." I followed. Whisk vanished into my mind again. He always did that, I remembered, when we went to Vale. He didn't want to be seen.

"My name is Reiest, but mama calls me 'little Renti' because dad wouldn't let her name me that. Do you know the name of the place I come from?" I shook my head, she smiled, and "I didn't think you would. It's a village in the northern wastes called Prox," I felt a sort of mental heat from Whisk at the mention of Prox, "and Gaia Falls is eroding the world, sucking us into an endless abyss, and each day it grows larger." She shook her head, "but let's just get you washed up, hmm?"

I was dirty. My hair was an uncontrolled mess, and dirt found a second home under my nails. I practically had a tree, all the leaves that went unhindered in my hair. There had seemed little point to keep myself washed every day when I was alone. I had had my hair brushed every day, and been forced to bathe atleast every other day, when I was with the caravan.

And so, I bathed. Reiest did most of it. I just sat there, as she lifted an arm, or something. Soon, I was clean. Vale knew me. A lady had brought my new outfit. I donned those garments, and all of a sudden found myself sitting across from Reiest in the Inn room doing absolutely nothing. Whisk came out. Immediately, Reiest said, "why'd that lady have a spare outfit for Eia? Does she live here or something?"

Whisk shook his head, responded, "we lived out on some plains a ways from here. We started coming to Vale a few years back, when we had a boy to act as a voice for Eia. Ever since then the villagers have provided her with a different change of clothes whenever she showed up. Eia… she'd wear anything, constantly, until it broke. And then some more, until she got it replaced. I don't think she notices clothes very much."

Reiest mumbled a quiet, "huh." Whisk vanished. 'Mama' reentered the room. She stared at me for a few moments, noticing my clothes had changed and that I was actually clean.

"We're going. Now." I attached my blade to my belt, and stood next to Reiest.

"I don't think Eia will put up any sort of hassle, mama," the Proxian girl said, in my defense. Whisk sighed in my head.

I found out why, when, "how do you know her name is Eia?" I stared at the ceiling. I was still adjusting to everything. I realized suddenly that I was more scared and nervous than I had thought.

"I overheard some Valeans talking about her, mama," keeping my secret, Reiest.

"Ah," was the simple reply, "come on, the villagers are asleep, let's hurry on to the Sanctum." We both nodded, and followed silently behind the Proxian woman's back. I noted quietly to myself that my steps were lighter than Reiest's.

I soon found myself standing face to face with a wonderfully crafted entrance. I stood there, basking in the atmosphere the shadows left in their wake. Was this Sol Sanctum? _"No, Eia. This is the entrance to the Sanctum. The Sanctum is just the entrance to the Inner Sanctum. I fear what will happen to these people."_ I sent a question, got the response, _"every time the Proxians come… every time."_


	6. Chapter: 5

Alright. I actually started this long before I finished it. The first scene came to me when I was attempting to fall asleep, and it's actually based a lot off my own self. That being said, it's still vastly different.

Chapter 5

I stood against a wall. She sat in a chair. "Well, Eia," She said, "how are you feeling?" We were speaking in the confines of my mind. I never spoke aloud. Even when I talked to myself in my mind, I never spoke coherently. I was confused. "Interesting."

Not all that difficult to understand, I thought. "That's true. It's not difficult to understand why you're confused. But it is interesting," She spoke calmly. She always did. I remembered her face, but I could not conjure up the mental image of that face being anything but calm. "Yes, but we're not here to discuss me, are we?"

I nodded. I wasn't dreaming. I felt no wall behind me. I knew there was no chair for her to sit in. It was all in my mind. "You're just chattering. You're frightened, Eia." She knew me well. She had access to all my thoughts and memories. "Let's get to business, now. You're confused. You're frightened. Why?" Obvious. I'd been kidnapped. "Kidnapped? I don't remember as you put up much of a struggle. Beyond not wanting them carrying you, anyway." I'd had no choice. They would have taken me, anyway.

"But you might have been able to take care of a few of them anyway. You are an Adept, Eia." So were they! And trained! "You are trained, as well. Whisk instructed you, remember?" Only in the basics. Whisk was a Jupiter Djinni, not a Venus Djinni. He had no experience with my Psynergy. They were experienced soldiers. "Be that as it may, a desperate girl can be quite feisty if need be."

They had armor. "Now you're just making excuses. You went with them without a fight for another reason. What was it?" What was it? "I can't tell you." I was frightened, they had weapons. "So?" She began to frustrate me. "What, getting mad at yourself?" She had a point, She was me. "Good girl." Nothing. Seconds passed. "Whisk is trying to talk. We're busy. Go away." Whisk. Whisk would know why I went with them.

"Others know what you do not, huh?" Others? "Whisk. That Proxian girl. They all know things you don't." They all knew things we didn't. "Sarcasm. Without spoken words. Bites hard. But you're evading it. You know what I mean." I did not. "Do too." I did not. "Do too." In my mind, I slumped against the wall; put my hands to my ears. "You can't get me to quiet, Eia. My voice is your mind's voice. Shutting your ears won't block me out. You know what I mean."

I listened to her words, and let out a weak sound. "Phah. Stand up, Eia. Stop following everyone. We both know something's up. I, for one, would rather not be caught up in something without thinking for myself. Or thinking consciously." I blinked. "Fool child you are, Eia. Stop talking to me, and get back to your body. Something's up." I blinked again, but the image of the chair, and the woman sitting in it vanished. I was alone in my mind again.

I found myself staring at a room crowded with Proxian soldiers. When they'd shown up, I had no idea. Whisk spoke to my mind, _"Eia, be ready for a storm."_ I wondered why. _"You'll know soon. It's always the Proxians. Always."_ Still confused, I spotted Reiest, and she beckoned me to go over to her. I found myself without a choice as I felt a pair of arms – very powerful arms – shove me in her direction.

The Proxian girl got a chuckle out of that one. I stood against a wall. "So, Eia, my mama told me to watch over you, still. You were kind of spacey a few moments ago." I didn't respond in any way, though I'm not sure why. Reiest, it seemed, was quick to adapt. She hadn't been put off by my complete lack of response. Usually, my face showed my emotions quite clearly.

Not then. After my inner-thoughts meeting that concluded mere moments before, I felt a small change. As if I'd realized something, though I wasn't quite positive what, exactly, had occurred to me. I decided not to think about it, and to let it be. I heard a shout, and Reiest pulled me along with the soldiers.

"That was Mama. She's leading this expedition. We're on a mission to save the world! It's an honor for me to be here with her." Reiest's face, however, said she was upset about something. The silent wondering must have been all over my face, because she said, "I'm powerful enough in Psynergy that I am worthy of having a partner, like Mama, but they said I hadn't proved myself. If I don't prove myself before the end of this expedition, I won't ever have a partner, and I won't earn my markings."

I didn't quite follow what she was saying, but it was an explanation, so I nodded. Satisfied, Reiest urged me forward a bit faster and smiled. As if deciding to see what it was like to be me, she said nothing. I felt my hair getting tossed about as we ran through the ancient sanctum, untouched by time. It awed me, in some basic way. Nothing was intricate, and there were no signs of extravagance… but it was such a wondrous place. I could, I thought, feel a power calling to me.

"_It's because we're in Sol Sanctum, heart of the power of Alchemy. Alchemy being the driving force that gives strength and energy to Psynergy. Alchemy being that which gives all things structure. Alchemy, the combination of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Fire, water, wind, and earth. Sol Sanctum, where the Elemental Stars are held. Sol Sanctum… where a trap awaits these fools."_

Whisk had spoken, but his speech, much like Reiest's before, made little sense to me. "Yo, Eia, snap out of it! We're almost there. See, that's the Sol Room. Mama told me about it, said that from the Sol Room access to the inner sanctum can be gained. Mama does good research." She pointed to a picture of the sun beneath my feet. Then she pointed to an adjacent room. "That, over there, is the Luna Room. From there is an upward passage… where those who seek to enter the innermost sanctum must pass a test, or so the legends say. Mama went ahead with her partner to that place."

Done talking, Reiest nodded. I supposed, at that point, that the other girl had not, in fact, decided to try to see what life was like from a mute's standpoint. I wondered when she would start getting hostile, bored, annoyed, or any of the amounts of negative feelings I tended to encounter after a short relationship with people. A lot of them seemed to think they would make me come out of my shell.

I liked my shell. I didn't like talking. I communicated well enough, didn't I? That was that, so far as I was convinced. That's how I liked it, that's how it was staying. If Reiest, or however many people I meet don't like it, well, tough. For a moment I wondered why I felt so weird. Then it occurred to me that my hair was actually straight, dirt wasn't clogging up the area underneath my fingernails, and I was wearing fresh clothes.

I felt _clean_ for once. And it felt strange. Oh well, I decided, it would pass. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, and slumped against the wall, growing tired. When I wondered how I could suddenly be so exhausted, I remembered that I had been interrupted in my sleep the night previous, and then had spent the entire following day following a strange girl from a village I'd only just heard of around an inn with people I didn't know cleaning myself and becoming otherwise presentable before the girl's mom.

In the eyes of fire.

Reiest thought the Venus girl in front of her was very strange. For one, she never spoke. That was just plain creepy. Second, she was pretty much walking dirt when Reiest's fellow Proxians had stumbled upon the girl. The Mars Adept had barely been able to tolerate the stench. Eia was clean, at the very least, and Reiest was satisfied.

She was hoping to earn her markings soon. The sign that she was able to find a partner. She'd be following in her Mama's footsteps! Reiest had overheard, once, that the potential for Mars Psynergy within her was on par with her Mama's. To hear that, and from Tellem, the current Proxian Elder… was a high compliment Reiest wasn't sure she had a right to.

With experience, she only hoped to come close to matching her Mama's strength. Reiest knew Proxian Partner warriors were expected to be the elite, the best, the most driven, and the most proven soldiers of Prox's military force. Reiest knew, only three families had produced Partner-level Adepts in the past several generations. When Reiest's Mama had been chosen as a Partner, it was a shock to all.

Reiest planned to blow their minds further by also becoming a Partner warrior. She almost couldn't wait. The Proxian girl thought, silently to herself, that the young Venus Adept they had found might be her ticket to prove herself as a Partner-level Adept. How, though, eluded her yet. She'd find a way, however. She'd find a way.

Reiest patted the hair on the sleeping girl's head. It was a strange gesture, that one. Possessive, in a way. Slightly reminiscent of a predator's marking of its prey. A grin spread across the Proxian's cheeks. She'd find a way, she assured herself. She'd find a way even if it meant leaving her Mama for a while.

No sooner had she lifted her hand from the long, dark hair the Venus Adept possessed, than did the loud booming sound of thunder reach its way to Reiest's ears. Eia suddenly awakened with a yelp, and the whole sanctum shook with the fury of the bolts of lightning striking the sides of Mount Aleph.


End file.
